Not a Real 1-2-Switch Review

I had a very bizarre experience a few days ago when a friend brought 1-2-Switch over to my house.

Despite having a play with a few of the mini games in 1-2-Switch at the Nintendo event back in January, I don’t know if anything truly prepares you for the just plain weirdness of this party game. In almost every way this game feels off, awkward, and kind of unwanted, but I’d finally had a chance to play it the way nature intended, which I think is something lacking from most reviews.

Most people in the real world will be introduced to 1-2-Switch the way I was. A friend (having borrowed it from a separate friend) brought it over to my house, and we played it while waiting for pizza. We were both apprehensive and scrolled through the first couple of mini-games available to us for a while before eventually choosing something to play.

There was an undeniable awkwardness even in this step. Scrolling through all the long live action explanations, dorkily presented by a white toothed diverse cast of individuals way to happy to be… well… anywhere. I could sense the tension building in the room as we had to pick a game to break the ice, “Let’s just do this!” we decided, landing on quickdraw, as our introduction to Nintendo’s weird little console launch title.

it’s hiiiiiiiiigh noon

Standing at opposite ends of my loungeroom we laughed to hide our social anxieties and shook our heads. We both knew this was weird, we also knew that it could be fun. I lost, not realising I had to pull the trigger. Then I lost again, shooting into the ground. We moved on.

Continuing to go through the selection we found that you were usually the ‘good one’ at any of the games. Routinely my friend and I would take turns being the champions, depending on our skill sets. We both seemed to like the games we were good at the best, I guess it’s hard to shake the competitive nature from long time gamers.

After a few rounds, the full game unlocked, giving us the onslaught of the total 28 mini games to try. We didn’t try them all. Some looked too stupid, or too active (we were waiting for pizza, after all) or just too boring. There were, however, a couple that had us genuinely smiling and laughing. We even remarked “I’d actually play that one again” which was when it hit me, this game was being done all wrong.

this is totally normal and ok

1-2-Switch is a $70 video game that you’re only going to like maybe a 3rd of. Different people will probably enjoy different modes, but I’d wager almost everyone who buys this game will not touch at least half of the games on offer more than once or twice. With that in mind $70 for half a game, just doesn’t seem reasonable. The only way you’re possibly going to get that value is if you have a lot of friend’s to visit when you’re trying to show off your new console, and they’ll probably all laugh at you.

The worst part is 1-2-Switch isn’t awful. When fun, it’s quite fun. It’s a desperate cling to the pinnacle that was Wii Sports, but that was bundled with the console and was smart enough to limit its range without asking players to try to learn 28 different (yet the same) mini games. This game is going to be great for kids and people who are more outgoing the more they drink, but there’s not much there for those between these two demographics.

I didn’t want to write a full review for 1-2-Switch, as I didn’t play it long enough, which is why there’s no score on this review. However, in a different way, I might have played it the perfect amount. I can tell you that it can be fun, but I can also tell you that unless you have a lot of different friends who are willing to give it a go you probably won’t play for longer than an hour – most of that out of curiosity. 1-2-Switch is an ok party game to pass the time while waiting for pizza.

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